


Choices and Challenges

by DistractedDaydreamer



Category: Finishing School - Gail Carriger
Genre: Badass Ladies, F/M, Polyamory, felix my poor goth baby needed a redemption arc, if i get to it, monique is manipulative but efficient
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-12 23:10:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12970464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DistractedDaydreamer/pseuds/DistractedDaydreamer
Summary: Felix searches for his happy ending -- doubtless, it isn't what he expects.(Probably canon-compliant, goes beyond the books. probably won't be finished but i had FEELINGS OKAY)





	Choices and Challenges

_You will not repeat your father's mistakes. You will make new ones, all your own. -Curtsies and Conspiricies_

* * *

 

Felix retired to the balcony after being pulled away from Ria by the well-endowed Miss Woosmoss, frustrated at the world. No, he corrected himself, mildly irked at himself. Though he pretended to be, he liked to think himself not truly so childish as to miss the Miss Woosmoss’ blatant divergence from character combined with Ria’s unusual recitence. Admittedly, he paid little attention to most of the girls from Madame Geraldine’s. But as Dingleproops swooned over Miss Woosmoss’ decolletage, he couldn’t help to notice how similar her behaviour was to a Miss Dimity who Dingleproops had once been infatuated with, and said Miss Dimity was much more cutting than she used to be. Dingleproops was a fool, but he was still a friend and Felix as such was obligated to pay some attention to his affairs.

So he knew, then, that something was wrong. And it occurred to him, now removed from the frivolous festivities, that he should have perhaps taken a moment to think before charging in to speak. Impulsiveness was always something his father chided him on. He began to catalogue the things wrong with the scene.

If he thought hard, he could remember Miss Woosmoss at their table when the Bunson boys had temporarily joined the girl’s school. She had been shy and ever-nervous, nothing like the vivacious, flirtatious girl she had been today. Could the change be so sudden? Ria had been also not her usual self. She was gorgeous as always, he defended loyally. But his discerning eye had recognised the dress as dowdy, and dare he say it, unflattering to her. It was also made of a rich, luxurious fabric -- and having seen her family’s house, he was fairly certain such an expense would be rare.  And spent on a dress that suited better. Then again, she had once wore an atrocious red bolero to dress as a  _ vampire _ drone, so perhaps he had misjudged her taste.

At the thought of her supernatural dealings, he felt a stubborn flaring of emotion he didn’t quite want to examine. If he did, he might recognise it as not anger, but hurt, bemusement, and a deep-seated unease. The feeling that he, a viscount and duke-to-be, handsome, talented and influential, was not good enough for her. So he turned his thoughts back to her incongruencies, and realised that Ria was doing what she seemed always to be doing. Lying.

That made him feel even more morose.

“What a fine evening to contemplate the wild moors, Lord Mersey,” rang out a familiar voice. “Would you care to share your musings with me?” He turned slightly, his mask of bored petulance back on his face as he turned to face the blonde beauty.

“Miss Pelouse,” he greeted, sketching a technically perfect bow. “In truth, I came out for a moment of privacy.” Though it was rude, he looked back at the moors, turning away from her. While he had once enjoyed Monique’s company, she was a drone. A vampire’s breakfast It was beneath him to speak to food, and he was not in the mood for her clinging, obsequious manner at the moment.

He felt the brush of Miss Pelouse’s dress against his arm, but forced himself not to turn. “All the better,” she said musically. “I wished to have a word in private with you”.

“Speak, then. Is it important?”

“Though Sophronia is blind to your fine qualities, I assure you that not all women are. A certain lady of your father’s…” She hesitated slightly, as if considering her choice of words. “Acquaintance… wishes to speak with you.”

At the mention of Ria’s name, the uncomfortable emotion came back. He couldn’t understand Monique’s meaning, the hesitation before her words, the reason why he had been so hopeful when he heard the footsteps and disappointed when he identified the voice. He felt exhausted, more than bored, and he allowed it to make him indiscreet

“If you want something, kindly drop the artifice. I am tired of people lying to me.”  Monique blinked and froze. For a moment she resembled a mechanical who had her programming reset. Then she straightened, the coyness and flirtation seeping out of her limbs, the friendly interest in her eyes disappearing. Suddenly she felt intimidating, and Felix’s eyes flickered to the edge of her high-necked dress where the vampire bites must be hidden.

“Very well. You know my patron, do you not?”

“The Westminster Hive,” he said. It was a guess, but a good one, and he was satisfied when Monique nodded.

“My queen wants to meet you. It would be valuable, to have an inside man with the Picklemen. She wants information, and I thought you might have it.”

“There are other Pistons. Why not ask one of them, whose loyalty might be bought? What could she possibly offer to convince me?”

“No other Piston has your father. Your connections. And actually, it was my idea.”

“Your idea?” Felix asked, surprise shattering his mask of bored arrogance. Monique had ideas of her own?

Perhaps it was because of his earlier request for honesty, but Monique let her scorn and contempt show through so clearly that he could see it. Her eyes flashed. “You think that Geraldine’s trains her ladies to be mere fluttering damsels? Even knowing only the debut’s, surely your acquaintance with  _ Sophronia _ should have let you know how good we are at playacting.”

Something of his emotion must have shown on his face, for Monique’s smile was edged with knives. “Oh, you thought she truly cared? That perhaps she was different from the rest of us” -- her lip curled in a mockery of self-effacement -- “simpering damsels? She simply chose a different act.”

Shakily, Felix focused on the conversation. “You still haven’t answered my question. Why did you think I would be convinced to help a  _ vampire _ ?” 

Perhaps there was a softening, an instinctual gentling of Monique’s tone. The next words seemed to slip home like one of the thin stilettos he had seen them practice with. “I think you’re acting too. You’re looking for something real. Maybe answers. You’ve been shaken. I think the Countess would be able to offer you answers. Or a choice.”

A wry smile, then. “I know something of what it is like to have no choices. You may not accept it, but that choice is yours to make.”

Monique’s words echoed, and he remembered similar whispered words, pressed close to a girl with dazzling green eyes. A choice. 

Monique’s next words cut through his reverie. “If you are interested, come calling.” She pressed a card into his hand, lightly scented. “They know to expect a man coming with lilies.”

“Lilies?” he asked. It was the only thing he could think of.

Monique’s posture suddenly changed. “Oh, my Lord Mersey!” she tittered “Do avoid being dense. I would hate to regret my honesty. Perhaps I will see you when I return to London” She fluttered her eyelashes coyly and swept back towards the ballroom, and Felix noted the presence of another couple coming towards them. Unwilling to speak to them, he cast one more longing look to the moor before following Monique. He would speak to the chaperones and excuse himself -- he had much to think on. 

With the Picklemen’s plot, any momentary peace he could steal now was sure to be short lived. He was already contemplating how he could obtain lilies. 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading <3 first fic posted it is utterly unexpected that it is for this wild romp ahahahaha. i love comments please let me know what you think.
> 
> also after i wrote this i realised that there is. not enough set up for this to make sense given his previous extreme prejudice so if i do come back to this ill edit it so that this exchange actually takes place shortly after Monique's ball.


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